1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an input method for an electronic device and, more particularly, to an input method in a character input mode of an electronic device, such as in a text messaging or word processing character input mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Advances in information and communication technologies have vastly popularized consumer electronic devices such as desktop computers, laptop computers, smartphones and tablets. Users of electronic devices may share a variety of information by executing communication applications based on electronic mail, text messaging and instant messaging. A user of an electronic device may execute applications to write memos, keep household accounts, or perform calculations. In particular, to execute a communication application and a calculator application on an existing electronic device, the user typically uses separate windows or screens.
FIG. 1 illustrates an execution screen of a text message application supporting a character input mode according to a related art technique. FIG. 2 illustrates an execution screen of a calculator application according to a related art technique.
Referring to FIG. 1, in a state in which a message composition window is output on an electronic device display screen, when the user enters numeric keys and arithmetic operator keys of the touch keypad, the electronic device recognizes the numeric keys and arithmetic operator keys as ordinary characters. That is, when the user enters an arithmetic expression in a character input mode, the electronic device does not evaluate the arithmetic expression.
Referring to FIG. 2, when a calculator application is activated, the user may enter an arithmetic expression in the calculator application input window and the electronic device may evaluate the arithmetic expression. However, to share the evaluation result with another user, the user has to use another application supporting a character input mode other than the calculator application.
As described above, a user may be unable to execute a calculator application and an application supporting a character input mode at the same time. To share information needing calculations through a communication application such as a text message or email application, the user may have to repeat screen transitions to obtain an evaluation result using the calculator application and to manually enter or copy and paste the evaluation result in a character input mode of the communication application. A similar problem is apparent in a word processing application executed in the electronic device.